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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist
BELLATOR 122
JULY 25, 2014
LIVE FROM TEMECULA, CALIF.
- Phil Baroni and Karo Parisyan are in the cage. Let's get this over with. I mean, let's do this thing.
FIGHT ONE: PHIL BARONI VS. KARO PARISYAN (WELTERWEIGHT)
- Interestingly enough, Bellator actually put Baroni's 15-17 win-loss record on the screen. I would have padded it to like 49-18, but that's just me.
- Big John McCarthy, who can't get a license in Nevada, is the referee.
ROUND ONE: Not much action in the first 90 seconds. Both guys know each other very well, so that isn't much of a surprise. Parisyan clinches and puts Baroni's back on the fence, but nothing comes of it. Parisyan is landing some decent jabs, and then drops him with aglancing punch that really looked like it almost missed. That was horrible. Baroni trying to get up, but Parisyan keeps punching away and McCarthy stops the fight. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Baroni took a dive. Easily the worst performance of the year.
WINNER: Karo Parisyan by TKO at 2:06 of Round 1
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (N/A) Apparently Phil Baroni is the new Bob Sapp. The less said the better. Moving on.
- McGeary has a six inch reach advantage, as well as a six inch height advantage. McGeary is a -335 favorite, and I think that's stealing money.
- The referee is Steve Davis, who has one hell of a mustache. That's a manly man's mustache, ladies and gentlemen. I could never grow that mustache.
ROUND ONE: McGeary takes the middle of the cage and is working the jab. Valavicius has to figure out how to get inside. He's in, but gets pushed into the cage and eats a knee to the gut from McGeary. Nice knee to the head from McGeary. Valavicius gets free, but he's bleeding from the nose and took a head kick before getting all the way free. McGeary has a lot of Valavicius' blood on his neck right now. McGeary lands a huge uppercut which has Valavicius retreating. McGeary is unloading with knees and fists. Valavicius is just covering up and eating strikes galore, and Davis stops the fight before Valavicius can fall. McGeary was just too athletic and rangy for the journeyman Valavicius.
WINNER: Liam McGeary by TKO at 2:10 of Round 1
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**) McGeary is legitimately good.
- Spike replays the Joe Duarte vs. Saad Awad fight. Awad did some damn work. Got a triangle, unloaded a dozen elbows to the facebone. TKO. Damn.
FIGHT THREE: BRETT COOPER VS. BRANDON HALSEY (MIDDLEWEIGHT TOURNEY FINAL)
- The winner of this fight "earns" the right to fight the guy who got killed by Tito Ortiz.
- The referee for this fight is Jason Herzog. Expect chaos (#NOTACOMPLIMENT)
ROUND ONE: Halsey has his name tattooed on his back. Cheering fo rCooper here. Halsey shoot sand gets a way-too-easy takedown. To side control. Halsey moves to north-south and grabs an arm. He's looking for an arm but Cooper is defending it well. He's got the arm extended but his legs aren't positioned well. Halsey is belly down, still in possession of the arm. Cooper can't hold on any longer, the arm is extended and, to quote Magnitude, "POP POP!"
WINNER: Brett Halsey by submission (belly down armnar) in Round 1
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (**+) Gots to love me a good armbar. POP POP!
- If you haven't watched Community, just, no.
- Spike aired a commercial for Gym Rescue, airing on August 10.
- In other news: Jamie, I'm busy every Sunday night, beginning August 10.
- While interviewing Randy Couture, Jimmy Smith announces the Bellator signing of Ryan Couture. If Eddie Alvarez goes to the UFC, now we know why. Fear. Pure, unadulterated, fear.
- Fear of literally murdering a man in the cage, I mean.
- Spike airs a prelim fight between Bubba Jenkins and sacrificial lamb Poppies Martinez.
- The lamb done died.
FIGHT FOUR: ANDREY KORESHKOV VS. ADAM MCDONOUGH (WELTERWEIGHT TOURNEY FINAL)
- Had Ben Askren still been in the company, no one would blame Koreshkov for taking a dive here, knowing what would await him.
- The referee for this fight is John McCarthy.
ROUND ONE: Koreschkov stalking a circling McDonough. Koreshkov partially lands a right high kick. koreshkov is a much larger man. At least McDonough is circling away from Koreshkov's power. McDonough shoots from a mile out, gets stuffed, and eats a kick to the ribs while retreating. Double hook from Koreshkov. Spinning back kick from McDonough misses by a mile. Koreshkov lands one of his own, partially, to show him how it's done. Big left hook and right uppercut by Koreshkov. McDonough tried to catch a kick, but got stuffed in the takedown attempt. Koreshkov comes in behind a hard left hook. He's not using the jab at all. McDonough finally gets inside and puts Koreshkov on the fence. Lands a couple of knees before Koreshkov turns. McDonough gets on his bike to get free, but ate a strike for his efforts. Dull round. 10-9 Koreshkov
ROUND TWO: Oh California, the second round bell was struck five seconds after the round started. McDonough shoots from a mile out, and didn't ven get stuffed because he barely made contact with Koreshkov's ankle. Pathetic. Spinning back kick from Koreshkov lands hard on the face of McDonough. He's still on his feet as Koreshkov charges in. They're grappling for position along the cage. McDonough finally squirms free without taking any more real damage. McDonough needs to get inside. He shoots a single, but Koreshkov sprawls easily out of harm. McDonough on his back with Koreshkov holding McDonough's ankles. Koreshkov backs off and lets McDonough stand. McDonough looks like such a bad fighter that I expect him to be on Fight Pass within a year. if only he weren't American. Maybe he can learn to speak Dutch and they can get to Asterdam behind him? Oh, another spinning back kick. 20-18 Koreshkov
ROUND THREE: Koreshkov partially lands a high left leg kick. McDonough flees a leaping kick from Koreshkov, but still gets tagged after Koreshkov charges in. Left high kick, left jab combo from Koreshkov. McDonough shoots a single and gets stuffed. Koreshkov lets McDonough up and we're back to standing. Hard leg kick by McDonough lands. McDonough shoots, stuffed, turtles, eats a huge knee to the hip. Koreshkov on top, almost in mount. McDonough is definitely UFC Caliber #NotACompliment. McDonough manages to get Koreshkov inside his guard. A minute left. Thirty seconds of sleep later, they get stood up. McDonough took ten seconds to get up. #UFCCaliberFighter. This fight sucked. It didn't make Koreshkov look good. It made McDonough look awful. 30-27
WINNER: Andrey Koreshkov by unanimous decision
STAR RATING AND FINAL THOUGHTS: (*) Rounds 2 or 3 could've been 10-8, but, meh.
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